These fly swatter paintings were incredibly fun to do and so so messy. We’ve painted with fly swatters before but I never remember them make such far reaching splatters. My daughter was in a light blue dress and white sweater and as I was setting up she came by to have a look and managed to get paint on herself so I just let her continue. Every bit of paint came out of her clothes ( and hair) with a little elbow grease. What I loved about this monster art project was how much experimentation was involved. My son was absolutely engaged in trying to make the biggest splatter . Needless to say this is an outside art project.

Gather your materials. You will need some paint, fly swatters, paper, scissors, glue, googly eyes and lots of patience. You will also want a wet rag and kids eager to wipe up their splatters.

You ready? It’s going to be messy!

Squirt some paint ( we did 2 colors at once in an attempt at color mixing too) on your paper.

Swat!

Repeat over and over. My intention was to make a cool shape but my son had other plans and it’s his art so he covered almost the whole sheet of paper.

My daughter was a little more dainty about it, but not much more. If there is too much paint grab another piece of paper and make a print. It won’t alter the original greatly but will take off a lot of the excess.

After they are happy with the paint add glue and as many googly eyes as you want. I should have grabbed the extra large ones but I imagined them making little monsters not huge poster size ones.

Let dry – my son’s took several hours.

Cut out into the shape of your choice. This was all about getting both of my kids cutting. Scissor practice is important for both preschoolers like my daughter and school age kids who are working on handwriting. My son did all his cutting ( don’t you think his monster looks like it’s wearing jeans? ) and my daughter did some then asked me for help and directed me in how she wanted her’s cut.

Books About Monsters

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Monster Mess! by Margery Cuyler is a silly rhyming book about a monster who isn’t interested in scaring you, but rather cleaning up your messes. Readers follow along as the monster creeps through the house finding messes and tidying up. I personally loved it when the monster stepped on blocks, who reading this with kids hasn’t stepped on toys like Lego and screamed in pain?! I know I do, a lot so that part resonated with me . The illustrations by S.D. Schindler are done at funky angles and perspectives and adds a lot to the text. It’s not scary at all and a great monster choice for more fearful kids.

If You’re A Monster And You Know It by Rebecca and Ed Emberley is such a great monster book for families with kids of various ages. This book is a fun rearrangement of the classic children’s song “If You Are Happy And You Know It” with appropriately monsterish sounds and actions. The illustrations with are all cut paper collages steal the show and you will find yourself reading/ singing along with the book only to go back for a second detailed look at each page. The monsters aren’t super scary but they aren’t fluffy and cute which makes them a perfect match for kids that like monsters but aren’t up to really be scared .

The Monster Princess by D.J. McHale is a story about a monster Lala who so wished she could be a princess only to discover in the end that being herself is even better. As I was reading this book I was really hoping that the three real princesses that befriend Lala would have more depth and not be the stereotypical mean girls that they are . Even after the mean princesses humiliate Lala she does the right thing and saves them when they are in danger. This book had a very predictable feel to it but I am 35 and have lived through mean girls on film many times and been on both sides of it in real life . To a young child this story is fresh and filled with good messages about doing what is right even when we are angry and hurt, discovering that what we dream about being may not be all it’s cracked up to be as well as my favorite message that there are ” All kinds of special.”

Kids love painting with things that weren’t made for painting and when the weather is nice taking arts and crafts outside is a must. It’s so much fun to paint with fly swatters because the slap down, splatter the paint and turn an art project into a physical activity. This fly swatter painting is also a fun way to make wrapping paper too.

Gather your materials. You will need some craft paper ( mailing sections of stores carry it for cheap, or you can use the opposite side of extra wrapping paper), a dish for paint, paint and a fun fly swatter. You may also need some rocks to hold down the paper if it’s windy.